a friend of mine here in Dubai is going home to New York for a visit next month and has been beyond kind enough to offer to bring me some knitting supplies back with her. i'm so excited it's better then purse shopping. i have been scouring the internet looking for the best deals and trying to fulfill the needs of some patterns i have been eyeing so that i can finally knit them. i've gotten 30 skeins of yarn, 2 books, and set of needles from Knit Picks! i know i'm beyond excited too!!!!
but the process has reminded me of just how frustrating it can be to live somewhere where you cant find the things you need (i.e. knitting supplies).
let me ponder something with you... perhaps you may even have explanation for this quandary. why do all of the bookstores (Magrudy's, Barns & Nobels, etc) sell knitting books, yet i can't buy knitting supplies ANYWHERE!!! does this make sense to anyone? really, there must be a demand if the knitting books are in the stores no? so where is all the stuff to make the things IN the books. who is buying knitting books if they aren't able to go right out and buy the supplies for their very favorite pattern inside? that's my very favorite part of getting a new pattern book! i directly pick my favorite pattern (that i think i can knit) and buy the necessary skeins and needles so i can go home and get to work! all though, in all honestly, i usually let the new pretty balls sit at the top of my yarn basket and eye them for a few days before i get started.
i miss my local knitting shop (the Knitting Bee in Portland, Oregon) where i could go in and look at all the beautiful yarns and pick out what i wanted to work on next. sometimes buying yarns that i just wanted to buy because i thought they looked and felt amazing! or buying yarns cause i was having a bad day : ( i miss having people to ask for advice and just somewhere to go and browse.... nope not here in the uae! not ONE knitting shop!
ok i will admit there's a guy that has a textiles shop at the bottom of Carrefour along Airport Road in Abu Dhabi who sells a minimal selection of knitting supplies... this includes to different kinds of yarn each available in 4 - 10 colors (depending on his stock) and he has 3 different sizes of straight knitting needles. now this is as close as i have found to a knitting shop so every time i go in i encourage him to expand his selection but seriously fellow knitters would this satisfy your knitting needs?
oh well thanks to my good friend i will soon have enough yarn to last me a year!
my poor husband
3 comments:
The whole availability of knitting supplies is very frustrating I know. I really miss my LYS too. Even though there are plenty of online options for getting supplies, it's not the same as being able to see the colours with your own two eyes and feel the yarns with your own two hands! My LYS is having a knitting retreat (it's winter in Australia) and all of my knitting friends back home are going. I'm soooo jealous!
PS. That idea of going to a free zone to access Ravelry is just crazy enough to work! Thanks. I'm glad I'm back too.
So true about the lack of knitting supplies! It is very frustrating. When I was living in Abu Dhabi I had come across this little craft shop called Green Branch on Electra street. They had some good collection of yarn ...very few variety but better than other places and they had a nice quilting section too. They had a whole range of knitting needles in various sizes - maybe you can check out this place.
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